Publicis Machine scooped a coveted D&AD Pencil Award for its Play-Doh ‘Cookies’ ad in the Poster category in the D&AD international creative awards for 2016 – one of only two Yellow and 11 Wood pencils to be won by South African agencies. The announcement was made at the awards ceremony in London, last Thursday evening (19 May 2016).
‘We are immensely proud of this work, because it exemplifies the essence of good outdoor advertising – a smart idea that catches the imagination, distilled into a simple visual execution that can be absorbed in a matter of seconds,’ says Publicis Machine Executive Creative Director Gareth McPherson.

The sought after Wood Pencil takes its place on the mantelpiece beside two other top industry accolades earned for the teams’ Play-Doh Cookies Print campaign – a Silver in the 2015 African Crystal Awards and a Bronze Cannes Lion earned for the Outdoor campaign.

Publicis Machine was also in the news recently for taking the coveted Best of Print category in the Creative Circle Ad of the Year Awards 2015, for client Hasbro SA’s brilliant Trivial Pursuit Close but no Wedge print advertising campaign.

The brief from Play-Doh brand owner Hasbro SA, was to showcase how Play-Doh helps develop not only physical dexterity, but also mental flexibility by encouraging imaginative play.

The resulting poster shows a cookie jar on a typical kitchen counter, but the real cookies have been mischievously replaced by beautifully-crafted Play-Doh cookies.

The pay-off line: ‘Play-Doh. Makes smart kids.’

The posters were displayed in toy stores in and around the Cape Town area.

‘This campaign expertly communicates the essence of the Play-Doh brand, in one simple image. Truly a case of a picture painting a thousand words,’ says Hasbro SA’s Country Marketing Manager, Siphiwe Thabethe.

‘We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!’

The D&AD Awards are held annually, recognising the best of the best advertising and design from around the world. A D&AD Pencil is arguably one of the industry’s most coveted awards, and often described as one of the most difficult to win.

This is the second D&AD Pencil that Publicis Machine has won – its first was for client Marmite in 2013.

This year, South Africa brought home a total of 13 Pencils, including two Yellow Pencils from Ogilvy & Mather South Africa and TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris Johannesburg – both in the radio category.

‘We would like to congratulate all the Pencil winners this year, but especially the clients – like Hasbro SA – who put their trust in agencies, and believe in the power of creativity to market and sell their brands,’ says McPherson.

‘Winning awards is good for the soul, but building brands – and dough (or should that be Doh?) – is better for business!’

Publicis Machine is an integrated communications agency and home to 200 adventurous minds that combine incisive strategy, award-winning creativity and cutting edge technology to transform their client’s business. The agency is represented in both Johannesburg and Cape Town and features additional talent across six specialist pillars: Narrative (content marketing), Incentiv (loyalty and rewards), Answered (research), Moon Walk (public relations), Nurun (technology specialist) and Publicis Healthcare.

The team at Publicis Machine, SA’s leading integrated communications agency is fast earning a reputation for creating great television commercials that effectively interpret the client brief, while resonating with consumers.

Publicis Machine scooped a coveted D&AD Pencil Award for its Play-Doh ‘Cookies’ ad in the Poster category in the D&AD international creative awards for 2016 - one of only two Yellow and 11 Wood pencils to be won by South African agencies. The announcement was made at the awards ceremony in London, last Thursday evening (19 May 2016).

Just one month following the much-talked-about acquisition and subsequent merger, digital powerhouse Publicis Machine has added two of the country’s top digital minds to bolster its already formidable team.

MACHINE, the award winning integrated agency, was tasked with launching the new website in a way that not only captured the imagination of the audience (both retail and public), but also showcased the many beautiful brands supplied by Prima Toys.

Tasked with creating an innovative and engaging gift for the attendees of the annual Habari Media Tuongee symposium, Machine produced a bespoke gift box that was not only useful and beautiful but that also heightened anticipation surrounding the exclusive networking weekend.

The team at MACHINE is drinking a well-deserved toast to yet another victory, having won the Miller Genuine Draft BTL account in a competitive four way pitch. This sees MACHINE complete a trio of hot wins after snagging both the Nando’s digital account and integrated project work for Adidas.

MACHINE, the 2013 Ad Review Breakthrough Agency of the Year, continues to grow from strength to strength, prompting an upstaffing to bolster the already formidable team in the Johannesburg office.
The agency, which is only in its second year of operation, has grown by a whopping 42% this year. With a staff complement of 95 across Joburg and Cape Town, and clients including Miller Genuine Draft, Red Bull, Citroen and L’Oreal, the agency is already the country’s fourth biggest independent advertising agency – and getting bigger every day.

MACHINE recently launched this year’s ingenious Marmite Halloween tactical campaign, ‘Don’t be afraid of the Dark’, which encourages people to be brave and try the original dark stuff, because there really isn’t anything to be afraid of.

Consumers are creatures of habit when buying food, a survey by Answered, the research arm of digital agency Machine has found.
“Consumers typically have a brand repertoire when they shop as a means of ‘survival’, owning to the massive brand options available when browsing in-store,” says Adrian Hewlett, the agency’s CEO.
They conducted an online poll last month to test the South African consumer’s relationship with food brands and advertising.

Fels, who was previously Business Unit Director at 34 and responsible for handling SAB and Foodcorp, has strong experience in strategic brand management, and more recently extensive experience in core shopper marketing, consumer engagement and sales promotions.
In his capacity as Deputy Managing Director, Fels will focus on driving the integration of the specialist business divisions within MACHINE, fostering the growth of the inherent strategic abilities and, in turn selling this turnkey solution to the agency’s existing and potential clients.

McPherson, ex Ogilvy Cape Town Group Creative Head, has over 11 years of experience working across blue-chip brands such as Volkswagen, Kraft Foods, Castle, Carling Black Label, BP, and Castrol. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious local and international awards, including Loeries, One Show, Cannes, D&AD, Clios, Eagles, and Apex.

Machine is made up of four complementary divisions;
Creature, the incentive and activation division; Big Wednesday, a full service above the line advertising agency; Domino, a digital agency with a lead in social media; and, Answered, the online market research division.

Machine has offices in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Nairobi and is part of the Habari Group.